More than 300 business leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, academics and students attended the inaugural SMU China Forum, themed Be China Ready on 13 November 2013 to learn, share and discuss trends and influences shaping the growth and development of China.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam graced the occasion as the Guest-of-Honour and delivered the Opening Address. SMU Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping, SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, and China’s Ambassador to Singapore His Excellency Duan Jielong were among the dignitaries present at the Forum.

[Photo: SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer delivered the Welcome Address at the Forum]
[Featured photo: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam graced the inaugural SMU China Forum as the Guest-of-Honour and delivered the Opening Address]

In his Welcome Address, President De Meyer said, “This Forum is an integral part of SMU’s China Initiatives which was established in the second quarter of 2012. The SMU China Initiatives aims to raise our profile in China as a research university in the broad field of social sciences. By doing so, we want to contribute to the Singapore-China collaboration in business, government and civic society by nurturing China-ready and bicultural graduates who are able to function effectively in the business and financial environment in China. We do so by providing many more opportunities for exchange and internships.”

“The other major undertaking of the SMU China Initiatives is to actively drive and strengthen our collaboration with existing and new partner universities in research and postgraduate education. Our aim is to play a key role in creating and sharing knowledge and thought leadership that will benefit both Singapore and China.”

Professor De Meyer went on to outline SMU’s long-term strategy in China which consist of four priorities: raise the profile and reputation of SMU in China; improve the quality of students from China admitted into SMU’s undergraduate, postgraduate and executive programmes; broaden the engagement between SMU faculty members and their counterparts at leading Chinese universities in joint research and PhD co-supervision; and enhance student exchange programmes and internships in China for SMU students.

Expressing his optimism about China’s future in his Opening Address, DPM Tharman noted that China is embarking on the “most complex structural reform task that any country has faced in the last 50 years”, and the rest of the world has a stake in it succeeding. He identified two key risks which China face as it undertakes its reform programme: First, the country is still coping with the excesses of the previous stimulus package that was introduced during the 2008-09 global financial crisis; Second, the Chinese leaders will also have to deal with the interdependence between the reforms that they want to undertake.

DPM Tharman added that although China has exhausted its scope for labour force growth, the economy “still has significant upside for productivity”. It can bring its productivity on a par with countries that are global leaders by shifting resources from rural to urban areas, eliminating the inefficiencies from its legacy of central planning, and tapping new technologies. Urbanisation and growing connectivity between regions in China are other areas which offer much scope for growth.

[Photo: Professor Tan Chin Tiong (left), Professor of Marketing at SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business, moderated the Q&A session with Keynote Speaker Professor Justin Lin]

Professor Justin Lin, a former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, and Honorary Dean and Professor of the National School of Development at Peking University delivered the Keynote Address on Demystifying the Chinese Economy.

Prof Lin said China has the potential to grow at about 8 per cent annually for the next 20 years if it follows the path of sustained reforms and transitions to a well functioning market economy.

Noting that China’s near 10 per cent growth over the past three decades had produced distortions in the economy like concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and high income inequality, he stressed that China needs to remove them by deepening its economic reforms and opening up the Chinese economy to the world.

At the same time there has to be continuing investment in industrial upgrading and innovation for productivity growth to drive economic growth.

[Photo: Professor James Tang (extreme left), Dean of SMU School of Social Sciences, moderated the panel discussion which included Professor Gan Li (second from left), Professor Peng Xizhe (third from left), Ms Diana Tsui (second from right), and Mr Lim Ming Yan (extreme right)]

The China Forum also drew a stellar line-up of scholars and thought leaders who shared their valuable insights on various aspects of China in the panel discussion Major Trends in China: The Challenge of Success.                                                     

Professor Peng Xizhe, Director of State Innovative Institute for Public Management and Public Policy at Fudan University and a demographics expert, said that China is at a turning point in its modern history as its working-age population is on an irreversible decline that started in 2012. He urged that China should take action now even as its economic growth may not be affected by the new demographic trends in the short-run. “Smart urban growth combined with rural development should be seriously considered so that the urbanisation process can become a new engine for China’s further economic growth in an era of rapid demographic changes,” he added.

Professor Gan Li, Dean of Research Institute of Economics and Management at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, said that in the recent China Household Finance Survey which he directed, it was discovered that there is substantial household wealth in China, 70% of which was in the form of housing. Prof Gan noted that “given the very high homeownership at 86% in cities, and rising housing prices, Chinese government should focus on soft-landing the over-heated housing market.”

Mr Lim Ming Yan, President and Group CEO of CapitaLand Limited, shared the various factors that a company must possess in order to succeed in a market as complex as China’s. These include differentiating one’s business so that it can add value to customers and other stakeholders, hard work, relevant on-the-ground experience, continuous learning, and building a reputation of unwavering integrity. He said, “We remain very positive about China as it remains one of the best places for business in the world. In the next 10 years, we expect further economic reforms in China. This will allow it to strengthen its foundation for more sustainable and quality growth.”

Ms Diana Tsui, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Diversity, KPMG China & CEO of KPMG Foundation, shared that the core of CSR encourages more accountability and transparency in business practices. Companies must take a proactive role by being socially and environmentally responsible. She urged the business sector to transfer its knowledge in financial sustainability, efficiency and innovation to help build the capacity of the civil society sector.